


Batter Batter Swing

by raspb3rries (orphan_account)



Category: High School Musical (Movies), Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: D&P In HSM movies, Eventual Smut, F/M, High School, It'll be hot ok, M/M, Slow Burn, They're in the place of ryan as phil and chad as dan, Will go through all movies, trust me - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-03
Updated: 2016-09-25
Packaged: 2018-08-12 19:41:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7946659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/raspb3rries
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dan is straight.<br/>Phil is not.<br/>Dan is a basketball player.<br/>Phil is a theatre boy.<br/>They're nothing alike.<br/>But Phil teaches him it's okay to swing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 1,1

**Author's Note:**

> tw; homophobic slurs, radical christians

Dan awoke to angry protests from downstairs, squinting through the darkness as his father's screeches cut through the morning. He slowly opened his eyes and exhaled softly before sitting up, pulling the warm blanket off of himself.

Not bothering to pick out clothes from his closet as it was still winter break, he padded to the hallway. Actually, it's the _last_ day of winter break and _oh shit I should probably start that project that Darbis assigned-_

Another screech downstairs interrupted Dan's thoughts, sighing as he trods down the carpeted stairs. He already knows the topic by the angry screams so he isn't suprised when he walks into the lounge to see the tele ladystanding in front of what looks like the white house with the headline _'LGBT Community Protesting on Court House Lawn'_.

"One day you'll have to repent for your sins!" Dan's dad yells as the telecaster talks about the teens, young adults, and even elders as they wear rainbow colors proudly. His father throws a spoon at the television, only missing it by a few inches as it clanked against the wall dully.

Dan glanced back at the television, focusing on what the woman was saying.

"-They're rallying in major cities to protest for their rights of marriage and non-discriminatory work environments, in Austin, LA, Orlando, Cleveland, New York, and Washington DC, Tom. Five hundred citizens are currently around Washington D.C., picketing for their rights to marry."

It then shows two girls that look _younger_ than Dan kissing for photographs in front of the white house. One's hair was cut short, while the taller had black hair tied up to show a painted rainbow flag on her cheek. It switched to a boy walking hand in hand with and old man, who held a sign saying _i love my gay grandson!_. What looked like a bunch of sorority girls all posed for a picture holding a pink, white, and blue flag, with posters behind them writing out _ALLY IS A GIRL!_ And _WE ARE PROUD TO HAVE ALLY IN GAMMA RHO LAMBDA._ In the middle a woman with masculine features was grinning brightly, surrounded by her friends.

The reporter continues to talk about how it was expected for the protests to turn violent while more shots of the crowds came up, only to state that it had been a non-violent day so far.

"Yeah, they don't fight back because they're a bunch of dick-sucking pansies!" His father yells, and Dan is thankful that his eleven year old brother spent the night with his friends for New Years. He also wishes that when his mom left, he and Charlie could've gone with her.

.

"No! You can't laugh at me! I was pulled into non-consensual karaoke!" Dan could _feel_ Jim pouting through the phone as he stared up at the ceiling. It's covered in basketball posters of shirtless athletes showing off their championship trophies with their teams, and other small things like colleges Dan's interested in. "But like, the girl I had to sing with, she was _so_ amazing. Her voice was pretty good, and when she smiles her eyes crinkle up as if she's about to cry."

"That's alarming," Dan commented.

"No, not like that. Like, cute-crying. Adorable."

"How can crying be adorable?"

Jim scoffs. "You'll figure it out one day when you meet an amazing girl."

Dan almost wanted to _laugh_ , because there's no way he would ever like a girl from East High, and it's not even like he had _time_ for one.

"Yeah, whatever," he mutters. "So tell me about this dream girl of yours. Did you even get her name?"

"Gabrielle. We talked all the way until midnight too, but she had to go talk to her mom to wish her a Happy New Years."

"So, describe what she looks like to me." Dan sat up as he grabbed his laptop, pushing it onto his bed, finally having the inspiration to start that project.

"I think she's Filipina, but I might be wrong. Her mother was speaking to her in a language that sounded like Spanish." Jim decided.

"Okay. Then she left?"

"Yeah, but I got her number."

"Well, good luck with that, since you'll never see her again." Dan snorted, typing in the passcode for the laptop.

"What?"

Dan pushed the phone against his ear with his shoulder as he spoke. "Dude, she could live halfway across the country for all we know. You guys met in Colorado. If you haven't realized, we live in a totally different state."

There was a moment of before the sound of a foot hitting something in the background before Jim piped back in. "Shit," he muttered.

Dan only offered a slight _mhm_ , as he opened up Google Classroom to check the instructions for Darbis' class again. There was a moment of silence before he spoke.

"So did you see the picture Tyler posted? He was wearing a necklace with a basketball on it with the caption ' _i love me some basketball boys_ ' followed by a bunch of thirsty emojis."

Jim groaned on the other end. "This all started just because I said I liked how Ryan Reynolds looked in Deadpool. He thought I meant physical attraction. I meant that I envied him for his triceps."

"He does have good triceps," Dan admits. "Imagine if you ended up marrying him, wouldn't that be a plot twist."

Dan's best friend makes a muffed screech. "That'd be impossible! Imagine the agony I'd have to go through everyday just by _living_ with him. I feel bad for his twin, he has to go through that everyday."

"Imagine having sex with the ice que- wait, he has a _twin_?"

"Phil? Phil Lester? Dan, he's almost always right behind Tyler. He sat two seats behind you in Trig last year. How blind are you?"

"Apparently a lot?" Dan shrugged. "I have to go, I need to get this Darbis project done with.

"Oh shit, I haven't even started that. See you tomorrow." With that, Jim ended the call and Dan was left with a quiet room and a half-started project worth 20% of his grade.

 

A few hours later, Dan was just about finished with the project when his father opened his door, seemingly calmed down from this morning's events. Dan hesitates before asking if the news had ended.

Mr. Howell simply nods though, making a disgusted noise in his throat as he sits down at Dan's desk.

"What would you do if someone in our family was one of them?" Dan blurts, internally punching himself the second it comes from his lips. His dad glances at him with a confused look before snorting.

"No one in this family can be one of those sinners. We're all athletes. A faggot can't play basketball."

Dan nods. His father, seeming content, left the room.

For the rest of the night Dan told himself over and over that those people are wrong and have sinned.

.

The first day of school, Dan is waiting at the fountain with his basketball and bookbag. Everyone else is scurrying around him, pushing past each other to see friends that they didn't see during the break. It seems as the students subconsciously seperated into their respective cliques, not straying into others territory unless they were new and innocent, which most likely resulted in stolen items and bookbags thrown into the street.

The cheerleaders were practicing cheers for the next week basketball game, legs sweeping into the air that didn't even seem remotely possible to do without hurting something. Emma, a short girl with light brown hair ( _currently,_ Dan thinks _,_ as she changes it at least every two weeks) comes up and snags his ball, holding it out teasingly.

Dan reaches for it and she moves it two inches from his reach, creating a game where she dribbles it from him as he snatches for it while grinning and laughing, finally grabbing it and dribbling it from her as she reaches over his tall stature.

A bus pulls up and opens their doors to reveal Jim hopping out, causing all of the other athletes to run up to him to greet the basketball star. Dan follows, asking _what's up?_ as he wraps his arm around his best friend's shoulders. The crowd starts walking towards the school doors, the only clique that could seperate another to get them out of their way.

"Happy New Year, everyone!" Jim grins at his friends.

"Happy _Wildcat_ New Year," Dan responds with a cheeky smile, mocking Tyler Oakley's newest snapchat post, causing Jim to scoff. "Wait and see, in two week we're going to the championships with you leading us to _infinity and beyond_!" His miming of Ms. Darbis makes the others laugh.

The bell then rings, causing a swarm of students to head towards the doors. Somehow, the group starts doing the school chant, prompting Dan to lead it. He smirks before giving in, screaming at through the hallway with his friends.

"What team?"

" _Wildcats!_ "

They continue this as they walk through the school, recieving encouraging high fives and shoulder slaps. Dan grins, ignoring the redness of his face from the football jock just slapping his ass, instead excusing his blush and stiffened body for the fact that there were a lot of people around and he was hot.

.

At English Literature, Dan simply walks in with a basketball since he's planning to skip next period for practice and _it's not like I'm going to be writing anything on the first day back_.

Because of this, he gets scolded by Cat Valdes as he walks in because _"You're a junior now, Dan, get some damn supplies!"_ and _"Why are you wearing three watches?"_ from Connor which he had to explain that each had a specific alarm for basketball practice, when his shift starts later that night at Ari's Pizza, and when he had to get ready for an oncall interview for next summer.

Connor raises an eyebrow. "Why do you need two jobs?"

"I need to save up for college in case I don't land a scholorship," Dan explains. The tardy bell then rings, and Dan sits down in his seat as Ms. Darbis walks in.

"Ah, I trust you all had splendid holidays. Check the sign-ups sheet in the lobby for new activities, _Mr. Chapman_ ," she warned as she looked back and forth between Jim's desk and his chair. "Especially our winter musicale. We will have singles auditions-" Ms. Darbis drones on and Dan doesn't really listen as he nudges Jim and asks him if hes okay, who nods silently before turning around. His face is white as if he just saw his grandma naked, which makes Dan cringe in a split second.

His thoughts get cut off with Ms. Darbis calls him out.

"Mister Howell this is a place of learning, not a hockey arena," he scrunches his face and looks at the _basketball_ in confusion before moving it off of the table. He glances over to Jim as Ms. Darbis contiues talking, and watches as he takes out his phone.

Suddenly, a ringtone starts up and the entire class freezes as Darbis walks to everyone who took out their phones to check if it was them, including Tyler and the boy behind him, the new girl, and Jim.

"And Mr. Chapman, it seems you too will be seen at detention."

Dan sits up straight. "That's not a possibility, Ms. Darbis, Your Honor, _uh_ -" he glances to see Tyler snickering into his hand. He turns back towards the teacher. "See, 'cause we have basketball practice, and Jim-"

"Ah, that'll be fifteen minutes for you too, Mr. Howell. Count 'em!" Dan groans and slumps back into his chair.

Behind him, Cat makes a remark about Dan not being able to count that high, earning herself a detention as well. Afterwards, the teacher asked for comments or questions, in which Connor just _had_ to ask how her holiday went, which proceeded to have several eye rolls from everyone else as the bell rang. Luckily classes were shortened today, since they had the entrance assembly in the afternoon, but Dan didn't really feel like going to Chemistry, so the minute he got into the hallway, told Jim he'd see him in detention, and ran down the hall towards the outdoor courts.

The courts aren't near anything important so no one ever sees Dan when he skips classes, but when he finishes ten shots from the foul line to the best of his ability, he glances to his side, seeing a figure.

Dan double-takes, looking at them. They're sitting in the grass a few feet from the pavement. He can't see them through the sun's glare, and eventually gives in and walks over to them. For a moment he realizes that his hair is probably curling from sweat and only the basketball team knows he actually has curly hair. He would've stopped and turned around before the figure recognizes him but he's already there, staring down at him.

"Were you watching me?" Dan asks as the boy stands up, looking at his hair with a raised eyebrow. Dan realizes it's the unnamed boy who got detention in English lit, the one with black fringe.

"No," he mutters.

"Then what are you doing here?"

The boy reaches up and twirls a finger around one of Dan's curls, who stiffens and stares at him in wonder. But as fast as he lifted his arm it's down again, resting against his side.

"I could ask the same for you." He states, before turning, picking up his bag, and walking back into the school.

Dan watches him go, wordless.


	2. 1,2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just read a soul-crushing Bokuaka (Haikyuu!!) fic in the Last of Us AU. I'm ready to die, leave me alone for several centuries while I weep.

Phil Lester was gay. However, he was what you called a _reserved homosexual_. If you asked if he was gay, he would say yes, but other than that he didn't really talk about it. However, his brother, Tyler, was the most homosexual person he'd ever met, even though he was demi.

His brother was what you would call _obsessed_ with Jim Chapman.

Ever since the seventh grade Tyler had a giant crush on the boy. Personally, Phil didn't know what Tyler saw in the guy. He had a wide jawline, standard-fuckboy-quiff, and possibly the thinnest lips in the world. Plus, he was an over-glorified basketball team member. The whole school worshipped him and his teammates, completely ignoring all other sports, and ignoring non-athletic activities even more. It was easy to tell once you first come in here was that the worlds between jocks and nerds wouldn't collide. No way.

He had even heard the jocks call his brother an _ice princess_ and that he spent the entire break buying mirrors. Even though Tyler was cold and manipulating, he was still his brother, and Phil sent glares at them across the room whenever they thought of entering a twenty-foot-radius near him. But, Tyler got what he wanted, which was Jim Chapman.

So here he was, leaning against the wall with Tyler, bored out of his mind as he watched Tyler blow steam out of his ears over a girl talking with Jim in front of the sign-up sheet for the winter musical. Sure, he loved acting and performing, but once Tyler got it into his head that someone would be intimidating him, this would happen.

"Who does she think she is?" He scoffed.

Phil shrugged. He didn't really care, but he knew they would have to get to detention soon. He would probably blame the brown-haired boy with the fringe, since he was the one with the first scolding. Ms. Darbis probably would have allowed the phones, or at least politely tell them to put the devices away, but no, the kid had to mess around with his sports things. 

Suddenly, Tyler bopped himself from the wall and started striding towards the two. Phil groaned, and pushed himself up to follow his twin.

"What's impossible, Jim?" Tyler batted his eyes at the jock, smiling innocently.

Jim's crowd walked up, ready to defend their main man. "I wouldn't think _impossible_ is even in your vocabulary," the fringe boy asked. He glanced quickly at Phil before turning his cold stare to Tyler again.

Tyler continued to brag about his and Phil's feats throughout the years, making Phil internally groan. He looked over to the friend of Jim and caught him smirking at his annoyed expression. Phil raised an eyebrow at him, and the boy glared and quickly looked away.

Phil glanced back to see Tyler signing his name in pink ink onto the sign-up sheet, and quickly followed, trying to make his name as small and unnoticeable as possible. He caught Tyler shooting a sharp glance at him before turning back to the girl with a fake smile. After a few minutes of endless one-sided flirting, Tyler wiggled his fingers and said _"toodles!"_ to which Jim rolled his eyes.

Phil walked away with his twin, but turned his head to glance at the boy with brown fringe again. He saw he was sternly talking to Jim again. He sighed, and walked faster to catch up with Tyler.  

.

"Ty, lift the other end of this ladder, yeah? I need to fix the stage lights, they've tilted backwards again," Phil said to his sibling, nodding upwards. Tyler nods and goes to the other end, picking it up so they can both lift it across the stage.

"You don't think people could get splinters from this, could you?" Tyler asked, squinting at the steps. "Because I'm pretty sure us and two others will be using this during Act 2, if Darbis is sticking to the original script online. This wood looks really old."

Phil glanced at it once before grabbing the tool bag at his feet. "I doubt it, but I can see if Ethan can check it out for the Drama Guild before tryout day."

"Ethan? Ethan who?" His brother asked as he held it steady. Phil started moving up the ladder steps, careful not to drop his tools.

"Ethan Corey, he's in French 3 with me. He's been in construction club for about two or so years." Phil answered, setting his tool bag at the final step before reaching up for the lights. Grabbing a screwdriver out of the bag, he undid the screws in the base.

"Wait, is that the Ethan that you brought home one time for dinner with Catherine and dad?" Tyler asked with a malicious smirk. Phil huffed, pulling a light fixture down and setting it on the step.

"Yes, that's him. We broke up under good terms though, a few weeks later. We still choose each other as partners for French projects."

After replacing the faulty screws and setting it in it's correct position on the bar, Phil moved to the next light as Tyler started babbling.

"Alright, if you get him to check it that'd be good. Honestly though, I wish Darbis chose a different musical this semester, because _Twinkletown_  does not sound very appealing. We'd probably get like, twelve people to buy tickets. And it'd all be grandmas, but not those cute grandmas who bring no-bake cookies for the cast and crew, more like the smelly ones who wear too much 70s perfume and often text during the show-"

At that point, Phil had tuned out his step-brother and instead looked around the stage while screwing in his final light. His eye catches to Jim Chapman and his brunette friend in the stage tree, the friend inside of it while Jim hung from the branches. Phil hadn't seen the brunette boy with the other jocks during the assembly, assuming he had skipped again like they both had done during seventh period.

He had seemingly straightened his hair somehow after working out, because it had become like a ruler as Phil watched Jim dangle a paper leaf above the now-sleeping boy's nose. Jim was snickering as his friend twitched each time it touched him, smiling down fondly.

"Are they together?" Phil interrupted Tyler, nodding towards the fake tree.

Tyler spins around and looks at the two before snorting and looking back up. "As if. Jim Chapman is sadly as straight as one can get, or at least that's what he's told me numerous times after the slip-up in sophomore year. Besides, all day he was staring at Tanya-what's-her-face," He paused, grinning before letting go of the ladder. "Speaking of which, let me go see if Cat Valdes is interested in a new member for her Chemistry get-together." He sashayed up to the two mentioned girls, now speaking next to the giant moon.

Phil steadily got down the ladder, as it was now wobbling due to the lack of Tyler to hold it. He bent down and grabbed the tan bucket of paint next to the wooden planks for sets and started painting the sides.

He could hear Ms. Darbis scurrying along in her heels before he saw her, fluttering up, checking on his work, before going to check on the moon workers. He goes back to painting for a moment, his mind sticking to how the basketball player's hair had curled across his forehead, down into his eyes, easily pushed behind his ears-

The theater doors slammed open as the basketball coach stormed through. "Where's my team, Darbis?" Coach Chapman glares, crossing his arms. He scanned over the students, noting Phil, who in turn smirked and nodded towards the two jocks in the tree. "What the heck are those two doing in a _tree_?" He bellowed.

"It's called crime and punishment, Chapman," Ms. Darbis calmly responded. "And besides, proximity to the stars is cleansing for the soul!" She raised her arms up towards the stage lights, and Phil almost gagged at the cheesiness. For a moment, he wanted to run _with_  the athletes as the coach ordered them to do so, Jim pulling his half-asleep friend out of the tree and running through the auditorium seats.

The two teachers began arguing about whether or not the two could skip the punishments, Phil rolling his eyes and getting back to painting.

"This school is about _more_  than just young men in baggy shorts flinging balls for touchdowns!" Darbis retaliated.  _Finally someone says it_ , Phil thinks.

"Baskets! They shoot baskets!" Coach Chapman looked like he was about to explode. At this point, everyone had stopped working to watch their feud, and Tyler took the distraction as an excuse to walk back to Phil.

"What's with the sudden interest in Jim's friend?" He whispered, watching the fight between the teachers.

Phil glanced at his step brother. "Who says I'm interested in his friend?"

Tyler scoffed. "As if you'd ever go there."

Phil shrugged, before nodding slightly. He gazed down at his feet, but jerked when he felt the sudden hard slap to the back of his head. Letting out a string of curses, he looked over to his brother to see him pulling a serious face.

"Don't even think about it. If you fall for a basketball boy, I'll disown you." 

"You fell for Jim!" He hissed. Instead of Tyler yelling spitfire back, he leaned against the ladder and sighed.

"I know," he whispers. "And I regret it every day. They care about their future in sports, not just some idiot boy in pastel pink."

For once Phil feels genuinely sorry for the shorter boy, but the moment is gone the second Tyler freezes, slowly pulls away, and Phil remembers his diva brother just leaned against a surface with wet paint on it.

He didn't have enough time to plug his ears before the scream rang out.

.

By the end of detention, Phil quickly learns that detention with Darbis also lets out at the same time basketball practice does, as well as other spring sport teams. The hallway to the front door is quickly covered with sweaty people, and he watches as all the people from Detention Darbis plug their nose with grimaces.

He turns to his sibling only to see the same face. "Hey, you said earlier you're going to Dodie's house, right?"

Tyler nodded. "I won't need a ride."

"Alright," he confirmed, before dropping back from the crowd and instead walking down the western hall, where there was the side door towards the outer basketball courts. The chatter (and smell) of the crowd quickly faded, and Phil sighed in relief.

The hallway was silent and calm, but the tranquil enviroment was quickly ruined by the sudden rapping of sneakers against the floor and the jangling of keys on a bookbag. He decided to keep walking, looking straight-ahead, because it was a low chance that this person was actually trying to talk to him and probably were just searching for a friend, or looking for a lost item-

"Hey! Theater boy! Wait up!" Someone called. Phil stilled, looking behind him after a moment to see a sight he was amazed to watch.

The brunette basketball-boy, still in his uniform, sweaty and even _curly-haired_ , was running towards him. He must've noticed Phil's wide eyes as he pulled to a stop in front of him, slightly panting. 

"Uh, hey," he breathed, pushing his curls from his face. Surprisingly, he didn't smell as bad as the other athletes, and it seemed he actually knew of an invention called _deodorant_.

"Hi," Phil muttered, looking him up in down in surprise. "Do you need something?"

The boy faltered before smiling nervously. "Uh, most people don't know that I have curly hair, because I really hate it and I straighten it constantly. Like, the only people who do know I straighten my hair is Jim, some of the basketball team, my family, and apparently you, now, because you saw me shooting hoops today-"

"Where are you going with this?" Phil asked with a raised eyebrow, looking up slightly. He seemed only two inches taller than Phil, but the added support with his athetic shoes must've helped, because he seems _way_  taller than that.

The brunette laughed uneasily, his cheeks looking redder than they were a minute ago. Phil scrunched his face.

"Are you _blushing_?" He gaped. The jock stiffened before sticking out a hand towards Phil.

"I'm Howell. I mean- Dan. I'm Dan. My last name's Howell. Uh, Dan Howell. Obviously." He stuttered.

Phil cautiously took Dan's hand, shaking it lightly. "Uh, alright. Is that all you needed?"

Dan licked his lips, chapped from constant biting, which he had done throughout most of their conversation so far. "Uh, I saw you walk from the crowd down this way, and I usually go down this hall after practice so less people see the mess of my hair. And uh, just wanted to walk with you."

Phil slowly nodded. "Okay," he started walking, and heard Dan match his pace quickly. "So why be in a sport when it just makes your hair curly again?"

"Basketball is worth it, honestly. I love every moment I'm on the court." Dan explained, running a hand through his hair.

"Weren't you the vice-captain last year?"

Dan nodded, glancing at him. "How'd you know?"

"I think I saw you in the yearbook. One of my friends was in it and I watched her set up the girls and boys basketball pages." Phil explained, averting the taller's eyes.

"Cool," he could _hear_  the smirk in Dan's voice, obviously pleased with himself for making an impression before even meeting people. Phil heard a quick breath from the other before he spoke again. "Earlier today, when you asked what I was doing on the basketball courts also, uh, what did you mean by that?"

Phil heard Dan stop and did as well, turning to look up at the other, only to realize they were inches apart from each other. Honestly, it was probably Phil's fault for talking so quietly around Dan, so the other probably had to get closer to hear him. He quickly stepped back anyway.

"You've hurt your left knee. It's obvious it pains you, but I'm gonna guess that you don't show it around your teammates because championships are coming up in a couple weeks and you don't want to be benched." Phil stated, staring into Dan's eyes.

Brown irises blinked back at him. "How did you find out about that?"

"I might have told you a white lie. I glanced at you playing every now and then. When you land from jumping, you purposely land on your right leg. Even if you do, you'll wince and pause before going back to shooting hoops," Phil glanced around Dan's face, noticing small freckles dotted across it. "So how'd you do it?"

"Uh, was stringing up holiday lights right before break. The ladder tipped and I fell." He mumbled.

"No one was holding it steady for you?" 

"Uh, no. My little brother is too light to do anything to help it and my father was at work."

Phil noted his word of _father_  instead of the casual _dad_. He didn't bother asking where his mom was.

"Well, next time you use a ladder, find someone to hold it for you."

Dan bit his lip. "Would it be weird if I called you one day inviting you to my house to hold a ladder steady for me?"

Phil smirked. "No, but you'd have to get my number first." With that, he spun on his heel and kept walking. He heard Dan huff out a quiet laugh before following him, all the way to the parking lot where Dan waved goodbye awkwardly before getting into his truck.

Phil didn't realize the corners of his mouth were pulled slightly upward the rest of that night until his mother mentioned it during dinner, asking if he had gotten good results for his French midterms. (He had, its just he didn't realize _why_  he was smiling until late at night as he stared at his ceiling.)

He had made a new friend that wasn't part of his regular social group. It felt alienic, but exciting in the same aspect.

It was only until he was about to fall asleep he remembered he never told Dan his name.


	3. 1,3

Dan walked home to hear his father slamming things. _The LGBT protests must be still going on, huh?_ he wanted to say. He didn't, though. That'd be a one-way-trip to _Are you siding with the faggots?!_

Dan quickly dropped his bag by the door, trying to run up the stairs as quietly as possible. However, his father heard him as if he had the ears of a bat.

"Daniel!" He roared. "Come look at these sinners!" Dan sighed before going down the stairs, and turning into the lounge.

On the TV it was talking about how there were so many petitions Supreme Court would have to actually debate over marriage rights. Dan slightly smiled on the inside, but kept his outside face a look of disgust. "Terrible," he muttered absently, before leaving the room. Instead of going up to his room, he quickly ran out of the house. His feet slapped the pavement as he sprinted all the way to Jim's house, which was about five streets over.

As soon as he got there, Jim let him in. "Hey," Dan whispered, feeling empty.

"Was he yelling again?" Jim asked softly, leading the other up to his room. He opened the door, trying not to make a sound, and brought Dan to the bed.

Dan just feebly nodded, plopping himself onto the bed face first, before rolling over onto his back, letting his feet hang over the side. Jim sat down in his bean bag a few feet from the bed.

"Hey Dan?" Jim asked. Dan turned his head from his best friend's ceiling to him. "I think I want to do something new, but I think if I do do it, not a lot of people will be okay with it."

"Wow, Jim, finally coming out as your true self? Telling everyone you're a furry?" Dan joked half-heartedly. He felt a phone charger fling past his head.

Dan leaned his hand off of the bed and held it towards Jim in a fist. He softly pressed his fist against it, and the held it there for a moment.

"Whatever you do, I'll be behind you." The boy whispered back. Jim nodded and smiled.  
It took a while for them to change their sad looks into witty banter, but when they did, a thought struck Dan.

"What's Tyler's twins name?" He asked out-of-the-blue. Jim looked up at him from his phone and scrunched his eyebrows together.

"Phil Lester. Why?"

Dan rolled his shoulders, shrugging. "Just didn't know his name. It's strange, though. We've known Tyler Oakley for, what, four years, and I never knew he had a twin. Does he just fade into the wall whenever we walk past or something?"

Jim laughed so hard his shoulders shook. "No, you just don't pay attention to anything at all."

"Cruel," Dan whines, grabbing a pillow and chucking it at his best friend's face.

.

Dan gets up early the next morning for school, tip-toeing through the house so he wouldn't wake up his father. Once driving there, he avoids the cheerleaders because even though they're nice people, he is _not_  a morning person. The squealing and peppiness at this time of morning can only be tolerated on the first day back, nothing else.

He walks and sits against the sidewall, in front of the basketball courts where he saw the black-fringe boy earlier. Dan pulls out his leftover Spanish 2 homework, quickly looking through his notes because he just _know_  Mr. Heath will try pulling a pop quiz on the second day back.

It's not surprising that a few minutes later he hears a pair of feet walking through the grass and stopping next to him. He looks up, seeing the theater boy himself, looking down on Dan with a raised eyebrow.

"Can I help you?" He echoes himself from yesterday.

Dan feels his mouth clamp shut before shaking his head quickly, to which the other shrugs and sits down a foot away from him. They're silent for a moment as Dan looks at his spanish notes uncomprehendingly when Phil turns and holds out his hand.

"I forgot to tell you my name yesterday," he murmurs. "I'm Phil Lester."

Dan scrunches his eyebrows for a moment before having realization shudder through him. Twisting his body at an alarming rate, he looks towards Phil with wide eyes. " _You're Tyler Oakley's twin!_ " he exclaims before shutting his mouth tightly, feeling his face heat up.

"Step brother, actually," he laughs lightly. Dan watches him grin, noticing that his tongue sticks out slightly when he does so and it makes Dan feel weird how the sound of his giggles makes Phil look so pure and all Dan can think is _how are you related to ice princess?_  But when Phil stops smiling and turns to him with a disappointed expression he realizes with a cringeful thought that he voiced his ideas out loud.

"Why do you call him ice princess? That's rude. Yeah, Tyler can be manipulative and ambitious, but he's still my brother." Dan immediately regrets it now that Phil's disappointed gaze is upon him, but he quickly looks away towards their feet.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to sound that way, I'm honest-"

"It's fine," Phil waved him off, muttering about how he gets it all the time.

The bell rings and Phil picks his things up before looking at Dan expectantly, who goes _what_?

"You're in my homeroom. Do you want to walk with me?" Phil explains.

Dan hesitates for a moment because he wants to walk with Phil to homeroom because he _wants_ to hear that voice again but if anyone saw him hanging out with Phil Lester, twin of Tyler Oakley the entire rest of his junior year would be surrounded with _"what Howell, ya joining theater club with gay boy and his emo twin?"_

Phil notices the pause and shakes his head, obviously disappointed. "Nevermind. Forgot you had to protect your precious jock reputation." He mutters before turning around the corner, out of Dan's sight. It's only after that Dan's realizing what he's done that he kicks the wall, pain shooting up to his bad knee.

"Fuck!" He curses,gripping his leg. With a huff, he picks up his things and slings his bookbag across his shoulder, walking into the school.

.

When Dan walks into homeroom with Troye Sivan and it turns out that Phil was walking in front of them, about ten feet up, he has to have Troye snap his fingers in front of his eyes just to have him stop _staring off into space_   .

For the entire lesson, he doesn't even pay attention, instead hearing Phil's laugh in his head over and over and he doesn't know _why_.

He finally _did_ snap out of it right before free period, running up to Jim's locker as he was opening it. Suddenly, it seemed as if they had switched places, as Dan was finally alert to the world around him and Jim was spacing out and talking in half sentences.  

"The whole team’s hitting the gym during free period. What should we run?” Dan asks, repeating what Connor Franta had told him before heading for the gym with Troye.

Jim hesitated for a moment before speaking. “Uh, dude y’know what, I can’t make it. I gotta catch up on homework.”  

Dan scoffs, reminding his best friend that there _is_  no homework because it's the second day back from school.

"I'm not even behind yet, and I've been behind since preschool." Dan nudges his elbow into Jim's ribs, who still seems unfazed. 

Instead, Jim laughs loudly. "That's hilarious, dude," he paused, glancing down the hallway before going back to Dan. "See you later!" He exclaimed before bolting.

Dan raised an eyebrow as he watches his best friend run before turning the corner. "Homework?" Dan muttered. "There's no way." With that, he followed the other.

Dan managed to trail Jim all the way down the north hall before he headed into the third floor Algebra II classroom. Peeking in through the doorway, he watched as Jim chatted with some calculus braniacs.

"What is he doing?" Dan mumbled to himself. Suddenly, he feels a tap on his shoulder and turns to see a sophomore boy on the JV team, wishing him luck on the championships. Dan quickly thanks him, trying to get his eyes back on Jim, but by the time the sophomore is gone, so is Jim.

He takes the moment to grab Zoe Sugg as she walks.

"Hey, did you see where Jim went?" He asked. She stared up at him with bright, round eyes before nodding towards the stairwell. He speedily follows the path she pointed, going all the way to the ground floor.

He stops suddenly, realizing he has no idea where his friend now is.

"Where the hell did he go?" He panted quietly. Before he could look anymore, the warning bell went off, and he quickly sprinted to the gym, running into Sam Pepper on his way. They both made disgusted noises in their throats as they regarded the other before turning their seperate ways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so glad I didn't put a schedule on this because I've had no time to upload in the past few weeks until now. Thank you for the patience!  
> -V


	4. 1,4

" _Callback?!_ " Tyler screeched as he looked at the callback sheet in fright.

“Callback for roles Arnold and Minnie, next Thursday at 3:30PM,” Phil reads aloud, before reading Phil Lester and Tyler Oakley, Tanya Burr and Jim Chapman. Below that were other Callbacks for minor roles. Glancing down, Phil smirked as Tyler started to hyperventilate. _So dramatic_ , he thought amusedly.

"Is this some kind of joke? They didn't even audition!" Tyler screams, and the taller sibling snickers at his discomfort.

"Maybe we're being _Punkd_." Phil teased.

" _What?_ " The blond breathed, whipping his head to look at him.

"Maybe we're being filmed right now, maybe we'll get to meet Ashton!" He pushed.

"Oh, shut up, Philip!" Tyler snapped.

"Philip? That's quite a traditional name," Phil turned to see the basketball jocks and Dan walking up, his hands in the pockets of his unzipped hoodie. He leaned over Phil to see what they were arguing about. 

Phil felt his face heat up as the jock moved closer to read. He heard his breath catch in his throat, before turning to Phil as if he'd jump out and say _ha! Jokes on you!_  (Obviously he didn't).

"Oh, fuck," he whispered, his voice hoarse and low, making Phil slightly jump from him being so close to his ear. The others soon followed him, coming over to read the sheet. Dan glanced at Phil a second more before turning to run down the hallway, obviously in search of Jim.

-

In the next period, Phil found himself sitting next to Tyler instead of behind this time, waiting for the tardy bell to ring. They had gotten here early, and Tyler had his head in his arms, slouched against the desk.

"So, what are we gonna do about callbacks?" Phil asked.

Tyler flings his head up, glaring at his brother. " _You_  will do nothing, _got it_? I will handle everything. You're just here to sing."

Phil flinches at the other's tone, unaware that he'd be this snappy. "But isn't the entire point of a duo audition is that there are two people to work together?"

“No! Look, I’ll figure out a song that will push Jim and Tanya so far off that little jock throne of theirs that they’ll never _think_ of singing for the school again. _You_ are just there because you have a remarkably low voice. I’ll handle it.” He snaps.

Phil glares at Tyler before quickly grabbing his bag, standing up, and leaving the classroom before the teacher could come in.

He stalks down the hallway, not exactly having a destination, but then he sees the north wing restroom and goes inside. He doesn't exactly realize he's stomping until he runs full force straight into Dan Howell himself.

"Woah!" He whispered, steadying Phil with his hands on the other's shoulders. Brown eyes glance up into blue and Dan's face becomes concerned. "Hey, are you okay?"

Phil instead shakes his head, slouching against the wall. The restroom kinda smelled and he really wished he had gone outside instead but now Dan was here and he kinda didn't want to leave.

"What's wrong?"

He glances up to see brown eyes again, before looking at his hands. "Just- my brother is really hard to be around sometimes. I just need a break every now and then." He explains, straightening himself up.

Dan nods. "Understandable," he says, leaning against the sink.

The tardy bell rings then and Phil huffs, knocking his head against the wall. "Guess I'm skipping, then."

The jock agrees with a hum, fidgeting with his hands. They spend the next few minutes in silence, until Phil choses to speak.

"I don't even like acting that much," he blurted. Dan's head snapped up. "I'm actually into screenwriting for plays, and directing. I only do theater because Tyler likes it."

There was a moment of hesitation from Dan before he started laughing so much his eyes closed, and Phil joined in because he just realized how _random_  that was. Their laughter could've continued for longer, if it weren't the fact that Phil immediately paused as he heard faint whistling.

"Do you hear that?" Phil whispers, and Dan freezes as they both listen to it coming closer. Then, in a quick movement, the brunet lurched the other into a stall.

"Shit," he cursed as Dan easily picked him up, placing him on the toilet seat. Dan followed, stepping onto the toilet facing Phil.

The whistling came closer until the door to the bathroom opened, the shuffling sound of feet following. As they passed, Phil saw the familiar blue color of the janitors uniform and clenched Dan's wrist tightly. He glared at him and mouthed _let go_  in reply, but Phil didn't.

The sound of keys unlocking the restroom cabinet echoed across the tiles, and Dan flinched as something dropped onto the floor.

The janitor picks up the item, still whistling, closing the cabinet and starting towards the door. They stay in that position for a few minutes unti they hear the door open and close once again.

Dan huffed out a breath, and Phil stiffened when he noticed the position they were in.

Phil was sitting on top of the toilet, feet resting on the back of the seat. His back was flat against the wall, hands on the edge. Dan was crounched on the toilet seat itself, leaning forward, nose almost touching Phil's thighs if he looked down. His right hand was on the wall next to Phil's waist, the other planted on the toilet seat, which the other was still grasping.

Phil lets go immediately, face growing hot. "Uh," he stuttered.

Dan seems to notice their predicament as well, because he scrambles off of the toilet seat so fast his back smacks into the stall door.

"Sorry!" he squeaks, and Phil stares at him for a moment before starting to chuckle quietly because he just made one of the biggest jocks in the school _squeak_.

Dan joins in, covering his mouth as they laugh, his eyes crinking up. 

They decide to spend the rest of the period in the auditorium, sitting in mostly silence as they quietly work on homwork, a seat away from the other, only speaking to talk about their ridiculous amounts of homework or to see what the other had gotten for the question.

Phil decided then and there that Dan Howell was the only person he's ever met other than Jim that made silence comfortable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Double update because these two were both short but they needed to be in seperate chapters due to POV technicalities. -V

**Author's Note:**

> Slow updates most likely as I'm taking three CP classes which means a lot of workload. I'll attempt an update each week. Thanks for the support!


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